Thread: Was "the Fire" of Hell a Metaphor?

I'm curious if members believe that hell is a place of literal torture of fire for eternity or if this was a metaphor. I've always interpreted this to be a metaphor; that the fire of hell was used for our purposes. It was for us to try to comprehend a place of torment so bad, that we would be in perpetual, endless torture. This torture wouldn't be literal endless fire, but simply living eternity completely separated from the Lord. This would be so inconceivably bad, the metaphor of fire needed to be used to draw a line for us to this horrible condition. And those who rejected Christ would spend eternity knowing that they were offered eternity in the presence of the Lord, but by their own choice, will be completely separated from His Love.

Thoughts?

literal, funny if the fires of hell is a metaphor in that parable of lazarus, then our very reward in heaven must be a literary device as well.

It's very literal! It's a very, very real place, just as Heaven is. And just like the bliss in Heaven, the pain and torture in Hell is eternal.

Hell is more than "fire and brimstone", though. The is merely a scare tactic, but it is not scary enough to begin to describe Hell, for Hell is deeper than any abyss, and Hell is darker than any dark, and Hell is hotter than any hot, and Hell is more painful than any pain conceived on earth.

People claim that Hell cannot be dark, on fire, endless, a lake, full of torture, ect. ect. I find fault with their logic on this. You see, they claim it cannot be literal because ti cannot be all these things at once, like dark and on fire... They simple doubt the awesome power of the creator of all things. In my findings, those who doubt the literalness of Hell tend to doubt the Trinity and other ideas that they simply cannot fathom because they cannot appreciate just HOW awesome our Lord Elohim is!

But He is that awesome, and He is that powerful. He is the Creator and I bet His punishment is as real and eternal and terrible as all else that we see He created. Elohim does not do anything half-ways. He does everything to completion. Look at a rock, is it not infinitely detailed? Our Lord is complete in all things, and so will His punishment be complete in its terribleness.

who says that the fire isnt the h.s itself and there are chemicals that do burn things(caustic) that dont need oxygen to cause damage.

Originally Posted by jasoncran

who says that the fire isnt the h.s itself and there are chemicals that do burn things(caustic) that dont need oxygen to cause damage.

That is my point. When people decide Hell cannot be literal simply because they see contradictions based upon their limited and human way of thinking, it is equal to that of doubting God.

Pard, you're painting with a broad brush. You can't say people who don't see a fiery hell as literal do so because they can't see darkness with fire. And this has nothing to do with conceptualizing the Trinity. I believe hell is absolute darkness; the absence of all light, the light being God. I'm a Trinitarian through and through, but I do believe hell to be an eternal existence in complete absence of God. This is a place with weeping and gnashing of teeth, but not a place of fire literally IMO. I'd be repeating my OP if I went on about the picture of literal fire.

I believe no fire or pain can be worse than being completely separated from the Lord. Absolute depravity of soul. No hope, no joy, no peace... All the while, knowing that God showed Himself to them, but they refused to accept Him. Eternity of misery and regret.

Originally Posted by Mike

Pard, you're painting with a broad brush. You can't say people who don't see a fiery hell as literal do so because they can't see darkness with fire. And this has nothing to do with conceptualizing the Trinity. I believe hell is absolute darkness; the absence of all light, the light being God. I'm a Trinitarian through and through, but I do believe hell to be an eternal existence in complete absence of God. This is a place with weeping and gnashing of teeth, but not a place of fire literally IMO. I'd be repeating my OP if I went on about the picture of literal fire.

I believe no fire or pain can be worse than being completely separated from the Lord. Absolute depravity of soul. No hope, no joy, no peace... All the while, knowing that God showed Himself to them, but they refused to accept Him. Eternity of misery and regret.

Sorry if I made that to broad. I was not referring to all people who see Hell as a metaphor, people who doubt because they cannot fathom it's existence.

I do agree with you, to a point. The darkness of Hell is a life without God, but Hell is not only the absence of God. Those who go to Hell already know the absence of God, that is not punishment enough for them. It is enough for you or I, but not those without God on earth.

Originally Posted by Pard

Those who go to Hell already know the absence of God, that is not punishment enough for them. It is enough for you or I, but not those without God on earth.

Hmm... I don't think so. In fact, I'd say I'm pretty certain that no one on earth knows what it's like to live completely apart from God. Whether they acknowledge or believe it, God is in their lives and sustains them. The person farthest away from God here on earth is still living among Him and His creation. Living in the sheer and complete absence of Him is unfathomable. I don't think it's within our vocabulary or capability to express how horrifying a place that is completely void of God would be.

http://spiritlessons.com/Documents/7_Jo ... GgodGWhXjw

Why is it that everyone always sees John Lennon in Hell? Why doesn't anybody ever see Hitler, Stalin or Idi Amin?

torment those in hell day and night before the father and his holy angels simply means purification of the lost that refused him?

really?

We had an interesting topic on Hell being permanent or temporary a while ago, but it's buried deep in the pack now. I was going to say that if you want to question whether hell is temporary or eternal, you could jump over there, but it's been dead for a while. The person who claims that souls are snuffed out has a lot to contend with in Scripture as I said in the Eternal thread that's active here,

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=49593#p600595

I just want to make one thing clear about my understanding of Scripture as it applies to hell, because I don't want any confusion. I DO believe in the place of hell and that it IS eternal in that souls are left there in separation from God completely. What I don't believe is that of literal "fire". I believe this to be a metaphor. Not that literalists are saying it's either one or the other, but I'll just say if I had to choose between being burned in fire for eternity and being completely void of the presence of God, I'd take the fire - or any other kind of torture. Just give me the Lord, and He will give me endurance. My point here is that nothing is as bad as total separation from the Lord.